FRIDAY UPDATE: WRITERS STRIKE AT 12:01 AM MONDAY; Zero Chance Of 11th Hour Settlement
LIVE-BLOGGING Thursday PM: I just heard from a source attending tonight's Writers Guild Of America general membership meeting that the exact timing of the writers strike will be decided tomorrow, then announced in the afternoon. The thought was the labor action would begin early Monday morning when writers could turn out en masse for the TV cameras and set up picket lines which the Teamsters wouldn't cross, causing headaches for production at the studios and networks. In response, the producers' rep Nick Counter said, "By the WGA leadership's actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight's recommendation. We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend." But earlier in the day, Counter had claimed that, "due to overriding business reasons, no further progress can be made".
The Screen Actors Guild will be joining the WGA picket lines, and the writers guild said SAG has stayed in the background of all the negotiations. The actors' contract with AMPTP doesn't expire until June 2008, so SAG's president told the WGA members tonight that the actors guild cannot strike now but supports the WGA "100%" and will walk the picket lines with the writers. Meanwhile, the meeting heard from the guild leadership that the Teamsters are getting threats from studios (no proof was offered) after Leo Reed's "Hollywood" Local 399 -- aka the Motion Picture and Theatrical Trade Teamsters which reps over 4,800 studio drivers, casting directors and location managers -- urged members to honor the WGA's picket lines. I'm told a statement from the current General President of the Teamsters (not just local 399, but all of the Teamsters) was read with copies posted on the doors. It specifically stated the Teamsters support for the WGA and that individual members have the right, through the
"conscience clause" in the Teamsters contract, not to cross the WGA's picket lines.
The WGA leadership said tonight it waited until the writers contract expired at midnight on October 31st to see if the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers prez Nick Counter came up with a last-minute (and expected low-ball) offer -- but he didn't. So now the Hollywood writers walkout is a reality. The WGA leadership gave final authorization for a strike and will email all 12,000 members tomorrow afternoon the exact date and time that labor action will begin. Tomorrow, the WGA West & East board decides when is the most opportune moment for the walkout.
Tonight's WGA meeting inside the Los Angeles Convention Center was attended by thousands of guild members. 
(Variety put the figure at 2,000 first, then upped it to 3,000 out of WGAW's 7,700 members; my sources say more were there than that.) Every seat was full, and scores more people were standing. The confab was, in a word, packed. Not only did everyone show up right on time, but by 7:30 pm the meeting was in full swing. WGAW president Patric Verrone and company got a 5-minute standing ovation when they entered. Attendees counted more than 20 standing ovations during the meeting, with more applause breaks than anyone could keep track of as well as a steady stream of clapping as WGA Negotiating Committee toppers John Bowman spoke first, saying, "If there's a strike, it's because eight CEO's want one," referring to the moguls who run Hollywood and Big Media. Cheers and applause rose from the crowd when the WGA's negotiating committee's Dave Young announced its recommendation to strike.
There were also big laughs, a huge gasp, and even one round of boos all aimed at the producers. This Guild leadership is often described as hardline, but tonight's membership at the meeting appeared even more hardline than their leaders. (Of course, anyone willing to trek down to the downtown LA Convention Center in rush-hour traffic must be a militant.) When one of the Guild leaders talked about some of the concessions they made during the bargaining in order to try to jumpstart the talks, there was dead silence. Then palpable anger from the audience. "Take those things back," and "Don't give them anything!" was shouted by individual members, followed by bursts of applause.
Friday morning, the WGA issued this statement: "Thursday night, nearly 3,000 WGA members packed the LA Convention Center. At this meeting, the largest membership meeting in Guild history, writers heard the WGA Negotiating Committee’s report on the status of negotiations. The Negotiating Committee reported that the AMPTP had called a halt to negotiations by demanding we accept the extension of the current DVD formula to new media. They also reported that in three months of negotiations, the AMPTP has not responded in any serious manner to our initial proposals. The Negotiating Committee then announced its unanimous recommendation that the WGAW Board and the WGAE Council call a strike. Members spent three hours in frank discussion of the Negotiating Committee’s report and recommendation. The membership expressed their anger at the Companies’ refusal to bargain seriously, and voiced their overwhelming support for the Negotiating Committee, Guild leadership, and for the bargaining agenda of the WGA. The WGAW Board and the WGAE Council will meet Friday to consider the recommendation of the Negotiating Committee and to decide the next steps. The decision of the Board and Council whether and when to strike will be communicated to the membership by e-mail and through the Captains system, and will be posted on the WGAW and WGAE websites."
For background on the WGA strike, see my 12:01 AM: Writers Contract Has Expired.
EARLIER TONIGHT: Not even Writers Guild Of America bigwigs are sure exactly when the writers walkout will begin. But all will be explained at tonight's general meeting at 7 pm inside the Los Angeles Convention Center. (Could they have chosen a more lousy location?) One top WGA source speculates to me that picketing will start as soon as a strike is called, and that could be as early as tomorrow. (But wouldn't they want to wait until Monday when writers can turn out en masse for the TV cameras?)
Just now, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers President Nick Counter issued this very negative end-of-day statement (continuing to refer to DVD residuals when what he really means is electronic sell-through residuals): "Due to overriding business reasons, no further progress can be made because of the WGA’s continuing efforts to substantially increase the DVD formula. We are ready to meet at any time and remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that keeps the industry working, but the DVD issue is a roadblock to these negotiations."
Tonight, a member of the WGA's new Communications Committee blogs where the guild stands on the issues:
''What's the biggest issue? Internet and New Media
What are we asking for in Internet and New Media? Two things: 1. Residuals for reuse of content (like replaying tv shows) on the internet. We're asking for residuals of 2.5% of revenue -- that means for every dollar they get paid, we'd get 2 and a half cents. It's a flat percentage, so if they're right and they're never ever going to make a penny, well then, we won't either. No harm, no foul. Since 2.5% is our starting point, in any normal negotiation we'd end up somewhere between what they want to pay (.3%) and what we're asking for (2.5%). I'd guess 1 to 1.5 %. 2. Coverage and protections for original content (new stuff we create for the internet.) We're asking for basic protections so that when we write original stuff for the internet, we have rights -- health and pension, minimum amounts, credits and separated rights (so if we make some amazing character or show, we get the right to share in its success.) We're just asking for the same protections we already have for writing in TV or film. Nothing new or weird. Just the basics.
What are the other issues? DVDs: Currently we get .3% per dvd, we're asking for .6%. Translation: now we get 4 cents per dvd. We are asking for 8 cents per dvd. Since most DVD's cost at least 10 bucks, that doesn't exactly seem like a bank-breaker. Whatever. Enforcement of Coverage: There are lots of shows, like game shows, documentaries and talk shows, where writing is supposed to be covered under our contract. The companies sometimes just ignore the contract -- which means folks don't get health and pension, and if they ask for it, they get fired. We want them to stop that, and honor the contract they signed. Expansion of Coverage: We want to cover stuff where writers are working without coverage, which means without health and pension and other protections. The two big areas are animation and reality. We think those writers should be covered.
You don't actually think you'll get all that, do you? Personally? I think in a perfect world, negotiation involves, well, negotiating. That's give-and-take, where we get some of what we want and they get some of what they want. So far, they just keep showing up at the table with more and more things they're saying they're going to take away -- rollbacks on health and pension, gutting of separated rights, that kind of thing.
But they gave back those resid-whatever-thingums, right? Sort of. They took that one rollback off the table -- but since they're not moving on "digital delivery", and since pretty much all content is going to be digitally delivered in the coming years, well... we'll lose those residuals as soon as that happens. So without internet coverage, it doesn't mean much.''
Of course, Endeavor co-founding partner Ari Emanuel couldn't keep quiet about the looming writers strike. But while most of the top agencies sound determined to stick by their WGA members' side, Ari throws them under the bus. Not to mention quotes from AMPTP's playbook. (And here I thought it was primarily CAA that was repping the studios and the networks to the detriment of its clients.) Talk about faulty facts: no one told Emanuel that this summer was the best ever in the domestic history of the movie biz. Too bad that Ari, one of the genius dealmakers of Hollywood, didn't use his blog on The Huffington Post 
to map out a residual package that both sides could live with. But that would require focus, and Emanuel has the attention span of a gnat:
Writers' Strike: Is Political Posturing About to Trump Good Economics?
I'm about to get myself in a lot of trouble. So be it... Listening to both sides in the looming writers' strike, it's clear to me that politics is about to trump sound economics. Neither the Writers Guild nor the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is looking at the issue properly.
If you look at the amount of money that was at issue during the last writers' strike in 1988, I bet it was less than the amount the strike ended up costing all concerned. And I believe that will be the case this time around, too.
Expecting movie studios and television networks to change with the times is not asking too much. New technologies have dramatically altered Hollywood's economic landscape, but the AMPTP is still clinging to a revenue model that was created back in the days of Lew Wasserman and Abe Lastfogel - and was, as I understand it, adopted from the record business (you remember records, don't you?). The movie business took the formula used for calculating record royalties and basically transferred it to the sale of videotapes (you remember videotapes, don't you?). What's more, the current royalty formula for DVDs factors in the cost of manufacturing (today's electronic DVDs and web downloads, of course, cost absolutely nothing to "manufacture"). Clearly, the media world has gone through a major evolution since Lew and Abe, and it's time for its business practices to follow suit.
On the other hand, what the representatives of the Writers Guild have to remember is that all union contract negotiations are to set minimums, and that the effect of the change in residuals from DVDs and New Media they are seeking will not rise to the level of revenue they are asking for - or what the strike is going to cost the Guild's active members. Once again, the eventual cost of a strike will exceed the financial gain being sought.
Going on strike to lose more than you gain is not smart negotiating.
Both sides should also keep in mind that TV ratings have fallen significantly over the last few years, and the movie box office hasn't been all that great either.
But, who knows, maybe clearer heads will prevail - and sound economics will supersede political posturing. Let's hope so, not only for the sake of the writers, the studios, and the networks but for the millions of people in the community who will be hurt by a strike, including below-the-line workers and all those who aren't in show business but whose livelihood is dependent on a Hollywood that is up and running.
THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Hollywood Writers Strike Called; Timing Announcement To Come Friday; Actors Agree To Walk WGA Picket Lines
I've obtained instructions issued tonight to WGA contract captains who turn into strike captains once the Writers Guild of America calls its walkout. That's right: it's not "if", but "when". Since there will be no bargaining talks on Thursday, a strike call could come Thursday night when the leadership meets with the general membership at 7 pm inside the incredibly inconvenient downtown location of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Picketing could start Friday or Monday. (See my previous: URGENT: Talks Come To An Abrupt Halt; Thursday Night's WGA Meeting A Strike Call?) Here are memo excerpts:
Show captains need to compile a personal contact list for everyone who could participate in pickets (including actors, writers' assistants, staff and crew, etc) or other strike actions.
Showrunners and all WGA members should assemble drafts of every unproduced script and other literary material for the so-called "Script Validation Program". (Details here.)
Showrunners, hyphenates with projects in development, and other hyphenates may want to speak to or write letters to the Producers they are working with "to make clear that our mutual goal is to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract. We welcome their support toward that goal."
Before leaving their offices on Thursday, all Writers guild members should take their personal items home. "If you have an office on a studio lot, you may want to box up your personal items when you leave work on Thursday."
There will be a WGA West membership meeting in Los Angeles tomorrow night at 7 pm. At the meeting, the Negotiating Committee will update members regarding the negotiations and make their recommendation as to how to proceed. The WGAW will send out another e-mail following the meeting with up-to-the-minute information.
There will be a captains meeting Saturday November 3rd at 1 pm. Agenda to follow. captains should plan to be on call this weekend. There will be a captains orientation session Saturday November 3rd at 11 am.
"If there is a strike, submit your scripts for validation. You have 4 days from the commencement of a strike to do this. Contract/show captains become picket captains immediately. Show up for your picket shift. Your captain will advise you where/when. Report any re-writing of your material, illegal demands, pressure to cross picket lines, etc to your picket captain."
I've obtained an internal (not for public consumption) WGA account of today's negotiations and the guild's new "Comprehensive Package Proposal" put on the table:
"Today, just hours before the expiration of our contract, the AMPTP brought negotiations to a halt. The companies refused to continue to bargain unless we agree that the hated DVD formula be extended to Internet downloads. This morning we presented the AMPTP with a comprehensive package of proposals that included movement on DVDs, New Media, and jurisdictional issues. We also took nine proposals off the table. The companies returned six hours later and said they would not respond to our package until we capitulated to their Internet demand. After 3 1/2 months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals. Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for New Media, DVDs, and jurisdiction have been ignored. This is completely unacceptable."
The producers, in turn, claim they were ready to bargain -- and had even ordered in dinner -- but the WGA side said fuhgeddaboudit.
The AMPTP issued a statement tonight and the WGA's is below that. The negotiations broke down today not because of the traditional DVD residual issue, but about residuals for the Internet such as electronic sell-through -- i.e. Internet downloads. The AMPTP keeps saying electronic sell-through is synonymous with DVDs. The WGA says they're different and wants to negotiate a new residual formula. AMPTP refuses. Everyone knows that New Media and the Internet are the overriding issues of this negotiation. And now no more bargaining is skedded because of them. (... Remember, DHD comments are turned on. Opine away!) :
"AMPTP POSITION STATED TO THE WGAW AND WGAE TODAY
BY AMPTP PRESIDENT NICK COUNTER
"We’ve been working hard to come up with a package in response to your last proposal. But we keep running up against the DVD issue. The companies believe that movement is possible on other issues, but they cannot make any movement when confronted with your continuing efforts to increase the DVD formula, including the formula for electronic sell-through.
The magnitude of that proposal alone is blocking us from making any further progress. We cannot move further as long as that issue remains on the table. In short, the DVD issue is a complete roadblock to any further progress.
This cannot come as a surprise. Before the negotiations began, Writers Guild of America West President Patric Verrone met with many CEOs. The consistent message from the CEOs was that, for overriding business reasons, the home video formula would not be changed. Nevertheless, you proposed to increase the DVD formula in these negotiations.</p>
<p>We want to make a deal. We think doing so is in your best interests, in your members’ best interests, in the best interests of our companies and in the best interests of the industry. But, as I said, no further movement is possible to close the gap between us so long as your DVD proposal remains on the table. In referring to DVDs, we include not only traditional DVDs, but also electronic sell-through -- i.e., permanent downloads. As you know, we believe that electronic sell-through is synonymous with DVD.
There are pending claims with regard to electronic sell-through that will be resolved through the arbitration process. But to make any new agreement with you, residuals for the DVD market, including electronic sell-through, must be paid under the existing home video formula.
We are ready and willing to proceed to reach agreement with you. We call upon you to take the necessary steps now to break this impasse so that bargaining can continue for our mutual benefit and the good of everyone else who works in this industry."
POSTSCRIPT: After Nick Counter presented the above position, the WGA advised us that they were not prepared to continue tonight. When asked about tomorrow, they said no, we have a membership meeting. When they were asked about Friday, they advised they would call us.
2ND UPDATE: The WGA issued this "Latest Word" tonight:
"The WGA Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers of Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), has issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:
Today, just hours before the expiration of our contract, the AMPTP brought negotiations to a halt. The Companies refused to continue to bargain unless we agree that the hated DVD formula be extended to Internet downloads.
This morning we presented the AMPTP with a comprehensive package of proposals that included movement on DVDs, new media, and jurisdictional issues. We also took nine proposals off the table. The Companies returned six hours later and said they would not respond to our package until we capitulated to their Internet demand.
After three and a half months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals. Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs, and jurisdiction, has been ignored. This is completely unacceptable.
There will be a WGA West membership meeting in Los Angeles Thursday night."
UPDATE: More details about the WGA's "Comprehensive Package Proposal" presented today are here. In the meantime, there's a new blog by a member of the WGA "Communications Committee" at UnitedHollywood.com. It critiques the media coverage of this breaking story as well as imparts info.
In addition to my own postings about DreamWorks moguls David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg in Malibu during the fires here and here and here, I've just combed other news stories and culled this showbiz-related coverage:
Perhaps the hardest-hit entertainment company was Sony Online Entertainment, maker of computer games, which closed its 600-worker office in the Miramar area of fire-affected San Diego.
Fox's hot TV series 24 was scheduled to shoot Monday and Tuesday at a shuttered Naval air station in the Orange County city of Irvine but was forced to retreat because smoky conditions made filming impossible. The cast and crew returned to the studio.
ABC's new series Big Shots had to reschedule a shoot planned for Tuesday in the Angeles National Forest as well as a cycling sequence in Malibu.
CBS' Cold Case had a set in Simi Valley that high winds leveled.
Production on CBS' NCIS had a few crew members unable to make it to work because of fire concerns. Otherwise, there was minimal disruption even though the series shoots at a Santa Clarita studio near the so-called Magic Fire in northern Los Angeles County.
Warner Bros finance executive Tony Rodriguez and his wife returned to their house on a hill above Malibu on Wednesday knowing they would find nothing. The couple were evacuated at 5 am Sunday along with their two dogs. They were watching TV when they saw their newly renovated home go up in flames. The home’s new addition cost $800,000 and was not insured. Rodriguez credits one of his dogs with waking him and his wife during the night as the flames surged through Malibu.
At 6 am Sunday, ex-Warner Bros co-chairman Bob Daly made like Noah's Ark and evacuated a menagerie of more than 200 birds and animals to safety from his 25-acre ranch on the Malibu-Calabasas border. Three hours later, the critters -- 50 chickens, 10 ducks, 150 pigeons, 10 sheep, 10 goats, plus another one who just had two babies, two donkeys and one miniature horse -- were safely encamped at Daly's 5-acre mansion in Bel-Air across the street from the country club. He used a fenced-off sports practive area at the back of his property as a petting zoo. The neighborhood kids were thrilled, including four grandchildren of ex-Universal Studios CEO Frank Biondi Jr. On Wednesday Daly brought the barnyard back to Malibu.
Entertainment litigator Bert Fields took turns with his housekeeper hosing down his roof while his wife prayed.
ICM agent Chris Smith was in the middle of closing a deal for a client to star in a pilot when the TV executive he was negotiating with sent him a message on his BlackBerry: "Fire’s hitting. Gotta Go. Might be a few days."
Will Smith saw flames from a canyon not far away out of his windows on Sunday, but stayed safe at home for a 60 Minutes interview.
Actor Costas Mandylor injured his back while attempting to save a friend's home on Monday in Malibu.
Sitcom star Kelsey Grammer was among those evacuated from Malibu and made light of the evacuation for the sake of his 6-year-old daughter who was nervous at first. He told her to relax and assured her it would be fun. His family and dogs all got out safely and his house remained untouched Tuesday.
Actress Jane Seymour was on stage Monday at ABC's Dancing with the Stars while her husband, actor-director James Keach, protected their Malibu house. The fire was close by and, despite a mandatory evacuation, her husband stayed to fight the fire. Somehow Seymour stayed focused on her performance. The couple's home was undamaged and didn't appear to be in any imminent danger by Tuesday.
Oxygen's Reality TV stars Tori Spelling and her husband Dean McDermott had a San Diego County bed and breakfast featured on their show. They learned Monday that the nearby small town of Fallbrook had been evacuated because of the fires.
With only seconds to flee the flames in her Malibu castle, Lilly Lawrence grabbed Elvis Presley's Army uniform. It was part of a large collection of Elvis memorabilia she owned -- most of which was destroyed. Her inventory list of gone items include Elvis' red Ford Fairlane, nearly 3 dozen of Elvis' personal movie scripts that had his notes in the margins, also original Presley song sheets for Heartbreak Hotel and American Trilogy, and Graceland souvenirs. Lawrence bought about 50 lots worth of Elvis memorabilia when Priscilla and Lisa Marie put them up for auction.
Vanity Fair's Oscar party the night of February 24th will be held at Craft -- aka CAA's embarrassingly expensive commissary -- since Morton's is closing. (See my previous, Morton's: A Million Deals. Now A Wake.) No surprise: Bryan Lourd who orchestrated Craft's arrival is palsy walsy with Graydon Carter. Meanwhile, Craft sounds kinda crappy: the LA Times reports it received some early bad reviews and pointed complaints from customers, and fired its service director. Talk about a CAA deal gone south...
What a major embarrassment for Variety! This afternoon, I was leaked this memo sent by the Writers Guild West president Patric Verrone to his WGAW Contract Captains vehemently denying the trade paper's supposed big strike "scoop" today:
There is an article in today's Variety written by Dave McNary titled, "Reality in Check: WGA Gives Up on Nonscripted Effort." The article makes a number of baseless assertions, including that our reality organizing campaign has ended and that WGA negotiators in our current MBA bargaining have decided to drop our reality proposal. We are writing to assure you that these assertions are patently false.
According to the reporter, much of this article was based on his own analysis and speculation rather than objective fact. We intend to make clear to Variety's editors that opinions should be labeled as such, and not printed on the front page under a banner headline.
The WGAW continues to be committed to organizing reality. In the past weeks we have had several actions, including rallies and pickets at FremantleMedia's production Temptation protesting its failure to recognize the WGA as the collective bargaining representative for writers. We have also begun a long-term struggle with that company.s other productions aimed at eliminating sub-standard working conditions.
The WGAW continues to pursue a wage and hour campaign that includes multiple lawsuits against production companies and networks, and wage and hour claims with the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement. The wage claims have been overwhelmingly successful, with a number of claimants receiving back overtime at a number of companies. These settlements have included confidentiality agreements, and as a result have not been widely publicized. Our position that a majority of people in reality television are systematically denied overtime was boosted earlier this fall when E! agreed to pay three years of back overtime to over 100 producers.
We cannot guarantee you that we will achieve all of our goals at the bargaining table, or that our reality television organizing campaign will meet with rapid success; but we can give you our word that this Variety article does not represent the position of the WGA or our Negotiating Committee. It is our hope that this article, and others like it that may appear, will only serve to unite writers against employers who want to deny them the ability to share in this growing global business. We are all in this together.
Patric M. Verrone,
President, WGAW
I'm told Nick Counter, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, wants ALL of the negotiating committee members at tomorrow's Thursday's 10 am session, no matter what. (Today's and then Wednesday's sessions were cancelled because AMPTP wanted time to caucus.) That's leading the Writers Guild of America side to think maybe something's gonna give. I hear the Hollywood moguls' negotiating team is indeed working overtime to devise that new combination of alternatives and options to present to the WGA, as I reported on Monday. So they want as many from the other side as possible, not just the usual militants but also the bigtime writers/hyphenates, to hear the producers' POV in person.
Counter's side contends there were just a dozen people at Monday's session out of the 40 who should have been there, including "not a single exec from WGA East". This isn't true: WGAE was repped at Monday's session by screenwriter and Negotiating Committee member Terry George. "The WGAE has always had at least one member, and usually many more, present at every day of negotiations, despite the fact the negotiations are held in Los Angeles and all the WGAE members and executive staff live in New York or the East," the guild told me. "The WGAE has always been represented at the bargaining table and is actively involved in strategy and decision-making for this negotiations."
UPDATED: Meanwhile, the WGA West is vehemently denying today's strike "scoop" by Variety's Dave McNary anticipating that the WGA will pull the plug on its demand that producers place Reality TV show writing under its jurisdiction. See my just posted, WGA Says Variety Scoop Has No Reality. The story made sense to me, because, when all is said and done, this Reality TV issue needs to be negotiated first with IATSE and then AMPTP. Interestingly, this was an issue that the moguls told me last weekend needed to be taken off the table. But I found no evidence that the WGA was taking it off the table.
Despite news reports about a sour meeting where neither side budged, I've heard that yesterday's session actually went pretty well. "WGA proposals were actually addressed, and people were pleasant," a source from the writers side told me. But after yesterday's talks, both AMPTP"s Counter and the WGA side issued scathing statements.
Counter said, "The WGA leadership dismissed the withdrawal of the producers' recoupment proposal as insignificant despite their claim that this was a major impediment to reaching an agreement. The WGA leadership has yet to make any movement on its own or the producers' proposals. Instead, they continue to pursue numerous financial proposals that would result in astronomical increases in our costs," Counter added. "Their proposals would also further restrict our ability to promote and market TV series and films and profhibit us from experimenting with programming and business models in New Media."
Several hours later, the WGA West and WGA East issued the following statement: "We have no intention of discussing the producers’ rollback proposals. Not now, not ever."
... that would be the first scripted series to get axed this new TV season since it's stillborn. (See UPDATE below.) Or maybe ABC's critically panned Cavemen or audience-ignored Big Shots. Or even CBS' Moonlight which has a tough concept and had a tougher beginning (and replaced a showrunner). Instead, shitcanned after only two episodes aired was CBS' expensive Viva Laughlin which makes sense since singing and dancing even with Hugh Jackman exec producing is an even tougher concept in primetime scripted series. Plus, I'd heard the show had already cycled in some writers, which is never a good sign. Then again, ABC's big buzzed Pushing Daisies has had early budget and production problems (trying to sandwich in from 70 to 170 visual effects into every episode) so that plenty of people consider it an unsustainable show. While NBC's Bionic Woman is trying to make a series conceived as dark and brooding into sexy and fun. So a showrunner was pushed out. Let's also not forget the big rainstorm and subsequent flooding in Brooklyn that stopped production on ABC's Cashmere Mafia. Or that on Fox's Back To You, Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton already hate each other, so showrunner Steve Levitan is pulling his hair out. I could go on and on...
UPDATE: Back To You's co-executive producer Steve Levitan wants me to know there's no animosity between his two stars (but notice I'm not retracting). "Kelsey and Patty get along wonderfully. It was in fact Kelsey's idea to cast Patty in the role. I have not personally witnessed one moment of tension between them. It's always playful and fun. And they are the definitive professionals who want to come to work do their job and go home happy." As to the Wednesday show's failure to catch on, Levitan says Fox has been "ridiculously supportive even though the ratings have been less than stellar. Their attitude is 'Just wait. Once American Idol comes on, the whole night changes and you'll finally get some eyeballs."
Before the writers and producers get back to the bargaining table Monday, I'd like to share with you my reporting about what the Hollywood moguls are thinking now that the Writers Guild Of America members have overwhelmingly (by 90.3%) authorized a strike to start anytime November 1st or later against the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers. I must say, what I learned truly shocked me. Just as I reported the writers' POV Friday night, I'm now doing the moguls'. Don't assume either is my own view: that if any of this thinking were rational, a labor walkout wouldn't cripple Hollywood in the first place.
First, this is where the individual moguls stand vis a vis a WGA strike. I'm told they break down into only two groups, not the three groups from last time around. So instead of hawks, moderates and conservatives, there's now only hawks and conservatives:
Hawks: Peter Chernin (News Corp/Fox), Bob Iger (Walt Disney/ABC), Barry Meyer (Warner Bros), Jeff Zucker (NBC Universal), Michael Lynton (Sony Pictures Entertainment).
Conservatives: Les Moonves (CBS), Ron Meyer (Universal), Brad Grey (Paramount), Amy Pascal (Sony Pictures Entertainment), Harry Sloan (MGM, which also reps United Artists in this), Jeffrey Katzenberg (DreamWorks Animation, and the most moderate of the bunch).
Nothing about this list should be terribly surprising. Sloan's struggling studio with all its financing and box office problems needs a strike like a hole in the head right now. Katzenberg wants to be the mogul who brokers a compromise, but his bigwig brethrens don't care to let him play the hero role. (More about Katzenberg below...) Zucker, with GE threatening to sell the entertainment unit, doesn't want to get mired into more onerous financial formulas that are going to make his business even worse. Lynton wants to be a moderate but, like Zucker, needs to lower his upfront costs and, like Zucker, answers to a very strong-willed parent company whose businesses are diversified and who demands the entertainment unit now posting a return on investment in the low single-digits to at least get back to high single-digits (since no one expects the old double-digits anymore).
As for Chernin, Iger, Barry Meyer, Moonves, and also Zucker, they actually welcome a strike because they believe the 2007/2008 TV season is dead on arrival anyway. 
So many new shows are tanking in the ratings and/or going over budget and/or having production problems (Fox's Back To You, Nashville, K-VILLE; CBS' Kid Nation, Cane and Viva Laughlin (UPDATE: the first scripted new show of the season to be killed); NBC's Journeyman, Life and Bionic Woman; ABC's Cavemen, Big Shots, Dirty Sexy Money, and Pushing Daisies.) Even returning hit shows are losing their Nielsen luster (NBC's Heroes, ABC's Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, CBS' CSI:Miami and Cold Case) that they feel this is as as good a time for a strike as any. As one mogul told me, "We can get rid of the overhead and regroup and rethink everything. If we were having a great year, it might be different. But we're not, and this is like an automatic do-over." As Les Moonves last week told his personal publicist (or is it apologist?), Bill Carter of The New York Times, "I'm not concerned about the state of CBS. I'm a bit concerned about the state of network television generally."
I found this news really surprising because of the willingness of the network moguls to so readily give up eyeballs that may never return to broadcast television. Didn't any of them notice the Halo 3 phenomenon? But even more shocking because the WGA's TV writers who make up the vast majority of the guild membership have been clearly operating under an illusion. (This won't be the first time for that by either side...) As I wrote Friday night, intense pressure is coming from the TV writers to strike sooner rather than later in order to hurt the primetime business to the greatest extent possible. They argue that waiting until January 1st would allow most shows to bank 6 to 8 more episode scripts, and the only real way for the WGA to wield palpable power is to shut down the TV season as soon as possible, even by November 1st. Now I find out that this will play into the hands of the TV moguls who certainly sound ready to give up the season entirely. It's useless to point out that the last strike was in March 1988, lasted 22 weeks, and cost the industry a half-billion bucks. Because the answer I get back from the moguls is that they've now mastered the programming "art" of cheap reality TV and game shows. (See my previous, Strike Vote In For WGA: 90.3% Say "Yes")
Here's another shocker: there are no meetings planned by the moguls for the moguls. And none have been held to date. Lots of communications by telephone. But no brainstorming sessions like the ones held at Katzenberg's house when he headed Walt Disney Studios. The moguls were supposed to "stand by" for a meeting sometime in the next few days. But now that looks unlikely, I'm told.
At the same time, the moguls are convinced they're losing the PR war in the pre-strike period. Because I understand the studio and network bigwigs thought their renouncement of residual rollbacks was a "really big deal" concession that would get the writers in a positive frame of mind. I'm told the moguls were genuinely shocked at the WGA spin to members that it wasn't much of a concession since it never should have been on the table in the first place -- and there are dozens and dozens of other AMPTP-proposed rollbacks for the guild to still worry about. "Right now, the attitude is that we made a major move, and they're kicking sand in our face," a mogul told me.
So some of the moguls want to come up with a way to get their unfiltered viewpoint across to the WGA. Katzenberg is the most vocal about this, floating the idea of "putting a face out there to show we're human". Suggestions include holding a press conference, sending one or several studio and/or network bigwigs to the negotiating sessions, or starting a so-called "mogul blog" to focus on the strike. Or maybe creating a Q-&-A session with those moguls who feign sincerity better than others and posting video of their conversations on an AMPTP web page.
The moguls also have spent the past five days "devising our own alternatives" to present to the WGA. The problem, say the bigwigs, is that "no one at the WGA has come to us with a formula" and "without residuals, the WGA is having a hard time articulating what they really want." In other words, the bigwigs are looking for all the i's dotted and t's crossed specifics of, say, a New Media plan that would give writers a share of digital revenue before they can even consider it. So the moguls and their business side people and their negotiating committee are "looking at different packages, putting alternatives and options and combinations together" so something new is on the table for Monday's session or soon after. "We're trying to narrow the issues to those issues that really matter," a source told me. "As cavalier as some of the hawks and conservatives are, the goal is really to avoid a strike."
But the moguls think what else is missing is a Big Name to help solve this mess. The legendary Lew Wasserman is long gone. And uberlawyer Ken Ziffren saved the moguls' and writers' asses by ending the last WGA strike. And Bob Daly, ex-Warner Bros chairman, stepped in and stopped a WGA walkout from even starting in 2001. Who's it going to be this time around? The names I'm hearing include Daly, Ziffren or his law partner Skip Brittenham, even The Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ex-Sony and ex-Paramount bigwig Jonathan Dolgen's name has also surfaced (as one source told me, "Because in my experience he's one of the smartest guys ever with numbers. And he doesn't need charts and graphs. He's just brilliant at explaining it to people.") There's also ex-Viacom and ex-Universal mogul Frank Biondi, who knows the business inside and out and can be a calming influence. You know, and I know, the decision will be made (if at all) on the basis of who will offend the least amount of people involved.
Tomorrow, I'll file on what compromises might be in store...
- Strike Vote In For WGA: 90.3% Say "Yes"
- Results From WGA Strike Vote Delayed
- WGA Authorized To Strike ... As Expected
- Wow, The WGA's Paranoia Just Worsened
- SHOCKER: Is Writers Strike Now Averted?
UPDATE: Hollywood writers tonight gave their guild leaders an overwhelming authorization to strike. A walkout could come as soon as November 1st, and there's intense pressure to do that because it would greatly impact episodic TV. But I hear that soon is unlikely as long as progress is made during the ongoing negotiations with studios and networks. 
The Writer's Guild Of America announced tonight that the 5,507 ballots cast among its 12,000 members was the highest turnout in its history -- and underscores the passion and solidarity of the writers to win concessions from the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers.
"It shows an overwhelmingly engaged and activated community of writers who care about this negotiation and support our goals," WGA West president Patric Verrone, himself an animation writer, stated tonight. "Writers do not want to strike, but they are resolute and prepared to take strong, united action to defend our interests. What we must have is a contract that gives us the ability to keep up with the financial success of this ever expanding industry."
Earlier this evening, I reported the WGA East authorized the strike by a blowout 90% -- and it was expected to be more anti-strike than the much larger WGA West. "This historic vote sends an unequivocal message to the AMPTP, loud and clear," said WGA east president Michael Winship. "We will not be taken advantage of and we will not be fooled."
Tonight's total WGA tally blew away the producers. Judging from the phone calls I've received from several of the Hollywood moguls, the vote had its intended effect. As I reported last night, the strike authorization "Yes" vote has OK'ed a walkout that will bring Hollywood to its knees when it happens. All that was left to be determined were the percentages by which the 12,000-strong Writer's Guild of America members wanted the labor action. These numbers were important to both the WGA and to the studios and networks in order to gauge the strength of the strike fervor. The feeling was always that if the total of the "Yes" votes was anywhere above 75%, the studios and networks had a giant headache on their hands.
I say the moguls shouldn't make the mistake of consoling themselves that most of the writers' ballots were mailed in before AMPTP took that residuals rollback off the bargaining table. Because it wouldn't have mattered: the percentages would have been the same. But that was a huge concession (despite the WGA's continued spin that it wasn't), and for the first time it sparked a mood of optimism among the writers that a strike could be averted. Yes, the WGA contract will expire Oct. 31 without a new one in place, but that date is meaningless because the WGA negotiators are not expected to call a strike until weeks after -- in fact, right before New Year's when the timing will be most strategic and the moguls' vacations ruined. But intense pressure is coming from the TV writers to strike sooner rather than later in order to hurt the primetime business to the greatest possible extent. They argue that waiting until January 1st would allow most shows to bank 6 to 8 more episode scripts, and the only real way for the WGA to wield palpable power is to shut down the TV season.
The good news is the WGA and AMPTP are returning to the bargaining table on Monday for a face to face session, which has been rare during these negotiations going on since mid-July. The bad news is if the producers don't understand the degree to which this is a very determined and unified guild in no mood to be pushed around on the dozens of other rollbacks remaining besides residuals. The writers' negotiating team is determined to bring members a very real downloading income stream. Sure, right now no one knows what those revenues will be, but the guild won't move past the difficult New Media issue when the current WGA rallying cry is "Remember the DVDs!"
This WGA team isn't gonna fold like the previous crew led by John Wells because this time around the writers are really in charge, not the hyphenates. (I still marvel at the way Wells ran for WGA president in 1999 and won even though he was a preeminent TV producer, split the Writer's Guild into haves and have nots, then failed in 2001 to stand firm on any of the hard issues so as to ensure no strike would interrupt his own productions. As if that weren't chutzpah enough, shortly after the WGA contract was resolved, Wells quietly informed his West Wing writers that the provisions in their own contracts for increased pay and promotions would not be honored in the 3rd season. The timing made it almost impossible for them to find new jobs.)
Again, I'll reiterate that this strike can be averted only if the studios and networks decide to. There's no question that the WGA top management and negotiating committee -- Patric Verrone, Dave Young, John Bowman -- outsmarted the moguls who thought there wouldn't be a separate WGA labor action until June when SAG's contract came due.
The producers planned primarily for that timing, not for now. So studios found themselves suddenly scrambling to lock down projects and productions they thought had several more months of unfettered development before a walkout. But the networks were really besides themselves at the WGA's earlier-than-anticipated deadline: with so many deals and so much development done between the start of pilot season in January and the upfronts in May, a WGA walkout even as late as January 1st means network TV is toast. And, at a time when it can least afford it financial- and viewer-wise. (C'mon, how many consumers even differentiate anymore between broadcasters and cable? It's all just programming.) And that's not even taking into account how many of this fall's new network shows are underwhelming -- if not downright tanking. Worse for the TV moguls are the strict strike rules laid down by the WGA organizers last week. TV production would have to shut down. Movie production possibly limp along. No wonder AMPTP's Nick Counter threw a temper tantrum and threatened a lawsuit.
So far, the WGA has been wily. But they need to stop short of willfull as well, especially with Friday's Dow Jones ending 360 points down, the current credit crunch, and the spectre of further infotainment consolidation (like General Electric selling NBC Universal to Time Warner). As for the AMPTP, this is no time for arrogance. The moguls need to provide an additional income stream that the guild can sell to its members as a major victory. Of course, New Media can still be tweaked and studied well into the future, but even a trickle of new cash flow can transform the WGA's attitude that it's losing too much financial ground to Big Media.
Do it, and do it now.
- Results From WGA Strike Vote Delayed
- WGA Authorized To Strike ... As Expected
- Wow, The WGA's Paranoia Just Worsened
- SHOCKER: Is Writers Strike Now Averted?
I'm told that, due to "unexpectedly high turnout", today's 3 pm official announcement of the results of the WGA's strike authorization vote has been delayed for several hours. (Why do I have this feeling that the WGA negotiating committee has rushed out to Forest Lawn to collect the ballots of dead writers...?) Look, all we're going to learn is what were the exact percentages since the
outcome is already known. (
WGA Authorized To Strike ... As Expected)
UPDATE: Strike Vote In For WGA: 90.3% Say "Yes"
That's what members in the know are telling me. But the vote totals won't be officially announced until Friday at 3 pm. Here's some timing news, according to what I've heard: The WGA negotiators newly armed with a strike authorization won't necessarily call for a walkout right after their 3-year contract with the studios and networks expires October 31st. They'll most likely keep negotiating without a strike call for several weeks (I've heard until Christmas but not beyond New Year) since the threat will hang over the heads of the producers and provide an added sense of urgency. A strike call is expected right before the end of the year if more progress isn't made with AMPTP.
Here are some notes from inside tonight's WGA meeting: it was not greatly attended but no one seemed to read too much meaning into that. Members who were there chalk that up to the fact that the great majority of the ballots were already mailed back prior to this. The WGA apparently has 3,000 to 4,000 of them already in hand. So the explanation is that the WGA members who didn't attend felt they didn't have to come to this informational meeting or to vote there until 8 pm since they'd already sent in their ballots.
Those who did attend were described to me as "completely pro-board through and through". Lots of applause breaks broke out supporting key WGA organizers and negotiators Patric Verrone, David Young, John Bowman who all came across as very "confidence-inducing" at this crucial stage in the negotiations. Unlike the last informational meeting many of the WGA members attended, there were no questions this time from writers trying to find ways to wiggle (more like, weasel) out of the consequences of a strike. That was one reason why the WGA organizers last week sought to clarify the strike rules for writers as well as for AMPTP's Nick Counter.
Attendees described the mood of Thursday night's meeting to me as more hopeful than previous ones. That feeling is because there is more movement from the producers. (See my previous, SHOCKER: Is Writers Strike Now Averted?.) But that is tempered by the fact that the negotiations had a starting place of no movement whatsoever. Verrone, Young et al made a persuasive talking point re the producers' allegedly "taking rollbacks off the table" by noting there are something like 74 other rollbacks, and really egregious ones, that are still on the table.
The sentiment among the writers seems to be that they've done everything they can to show the studios and networks that the WGA is determined this time around. But there's also a chilling recognition that the producers can still tell the WGA to go fuck themselves. Despite that, there was no sentiment among the guild members attending to fold on the issues important to them. None whatsoever. And the feeling is that the votes will show that.
I'll have more about the mood in the morning for you...
- Wow, The WGA's Paranoia Just Worsened
- SHOCKER: Is Writers Strike Now Averted?
FRIDAY UPDATE: WRITERS STRIKE AT 12:01 AM MONDAY; Zero Chance Of 11th Hour Settlement
The Screen Actors Guild will be joining the WGA picket lines, and the writers guild said SAG has stayed in the background of all the negotiations. The actors' contract with AMPTP doesn't expire until June 2008, so SAG's president told the WGA members tonight that the actors guild cannot strike now but supports the WGA "100%" and will walk the picket lines with the writers. Meanwhile, the meeting heard from the guild leadership that the Teamsters are getting threats from studios (no proof was offered) after Leo Reed's "Hollywood" Local 399 -- aka the Motion Picture and Theatrical Trade Teamsters which reps over 4,800 studio drivers, casting directors and location managers -- urged members to honor the WGA's picket lines. I'm told a statement from the current General President of the Teamsters (not just local 399, but all of the Teamsters) was read with copies posted on the doors. It specifically stated the Teamsters support for the WGA and that individual members have the right, through the
